Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 4

Last weekend, my friend Michelle and I decided to try to get massages in Westwood.  I had ran the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco the previous weekend, and I was looking for a massage therapy place nearby that had reasonable prices.  It turned out to be a very drawn-out, fun adventure for us, and the whole day only cost us about $35!

            In order to find the place, I searched “massages in Westwood” on Yelp.  The top results were all out of my price range, but one called “Footssage” on Santa Monica Boulevard stood out to me.  Once I clicked on the link, I learned that this place was only two miles away and had 60-minute full body massages for only $25.00, which I thought was an unbeatable price! All of the reviews on the website were extremely positive, which is rare for Yelp as usually there are more bad reviews than good.  I think this is usually because people are more likely to write a review if they are extremely upset about a place rather than overly enthused with it.  I decided to call and make an appointment. 

            Since the place was only 2 miles away, we decided to walk there for an added adventure.  Little did we realize, two miles turned out to be a very long walk!  We went down Manning Avenue the whole way, and went through a few nice neighborhoods.  The first couple neighborhood was filled with very upscale houses, and second was not quite as expensive and was a bit more middle class.   We first went to a French restaurant for brunch called Café Chez Marie, which had a price range between $10 and $15 entrees.  Then we walked to the massage place.  Both the massage place and the restaurant were very difficult to get to on foot- it turned out to be a very hilly walk and had a few little streets without sidewalks or pedestrian paths.  In the reading “Postsuburban California”, Kling, Olin, and Spencer wrote about postsuburban cities that are designed to be navigated by a car.  The reading states here- “Shopping areas are concentrated in regional centers or neighborhood centers that are too far to be a convenient walk for most residents. Although there is a substantial bus system, it is not widely used, and the private automobile is essential.”  The massage place was too far to be a convenient walk for those that lived in the neighborhoods, and it was definitely inconvenient for us to walk there from our home in Westwood.  Also, in lecture, we talked about how the postmetropolis was structured by automobility- it is evident that in this part of Los Angeles, the automobile is an integral part of daily life. 

            Once we got to the massage place, I immediately noticed a sticker on the door that said “Find us on Yelp”.   Then, below the sticker, there was a sign that stated that any customer who wrote a positive review on Yelp for the company would receive a $5 off coupon for their next massage.  This finding was interesting to me, and I started to wonder if the reason there were so many positive reviews for Footssage was because of this particular deal.  Nevertheless, we ended up really enjoying their services and found the reviews we read earlier were extremely accurate. 

            This occurrence caused me to start to think about social media websites like Yelp and how they have impacted cities and social difference.  By just searching a business name on a website, a person can find a rating, a price range, the location, service details, and a variety of consumer reviews.  Later, I found an article in the Los Angeles Times about Yelp entitled “Yelp cracks down on businesses that pay for good reviews”.  This article discusses how websites like Yelp have changed the way that consumers approach daily life activities like getting a carwash or choosing a doctor.  I do not think that Footssage is paying for their good reviews, but I did find it interesting that they are essentially bribing their customers in order to get more people to use their services.  This advertising scheme is very modern and would not be possible without social networking sites like Yelp, UrbanSpoon, or CitySearch. 

You can find the Yelp reviews for Footssage here and the LA Times article on Yelp here.

            I am really glad I ventured out into Westwood that Saturday and was able to experience a part of Westwood that I had never been to before.  I was happy with both the restaurant and the massage, and although the walk was tricky it was interesting to see the transition from residential districts to shopping districts.  The decentralization of Los Angeles was extremely evident.  Connecting this experience to a social media site like Yelp helped me to see how consumers interact with services offered in their cities, and how much people in urban areas rely on social media to make decisions on what services to use.  This is a concept that would not be prevalent ten, or maybe even five years ago, as social media has only begun to take over the world in the last decade.  The LA Times article also helped me to see how social media can impact people that live in cities, and caused me to wonder how people from different economic standings use this site in different ways.  I would love to do further research on what types of people use Yelp, and what economic and social backgrounds they are from.  

Picture of Footsage Storefront

Blogging Social Difference in LA: Week 3

For today's post, I took the chance to read another classmate's blog and then comment on it with respect to this week's reading, "Mapping the Pure and the Defiled" from Geographies of Difference: Society and Difference in the West (1995).  I commented on Paul Kaufman's blog, "Down the Block".
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I really enjoyed reading your blog post on Santa Monica, Paul. I like how you mentioned the homeless people and the street performers in the city and how they interact with the people that are shopping there. I wish you would have elaborated a little bit more, and explained what type of interactions occur, how often they occur, and why you think these interactions occur. 

You are right- the quote by Robert E. Park does hold true for the city of Santa Monica because the people in different classes do touch each other but aren't forced to interact with each other. In my blog, I previously stated that I disagreed with Park's quote because I believed that the different people did interpenetrate and interact, but your post made me think that I might be wrong. I think the important thing to also think about is- what really is Robert E. Park's definition of interpenetrate? Does walking by a homeless person and giving them money count as an interaction? Or does it have to be a conversation or the act of lending a helping hand? 

As I read this weeks reading, "Mapping the Pure and the Defiled", I found the section on modern media representations very interesting and relevant to your blog post. The entire article outlines the progression of "imaginary geographies" that create divides between "perfect" and "imperfect" people". This particular section on media discusses how urban society is depicted in television commercials through visions of a divide between purity and pollution. Reading this section and comparing it to your blog causes me to be upset over the reading, which describes the subtle ways modern advertising implies that the city is a dangerous, dirty place, and that we as "pure" people need to be protected from it. I found a Persil laundry commercial that demonstrates this idea, and I think it is the actual one that is mentioned in this week's reading.

1991 Persil Laundry Commercial: 

In his conclusion of the article, David Sibley makes the argument that the boundaries of society have shifted over time, embracing more of the population with less of a class divide. Los Angeles, although it has many separate class divides, is one particular city that doesn't have distinct boundaries and provides its people chances to interact and interpenetrate. Even though the media sometimes makes it seem that the inner city can be a "dirty" place, LA citizens that venture into cities like Santa Monica aren't afraid of these confrontations with lower class citizens. I look forward to further exploring Robert E. Park's concept of "interpenetration" and what that looks for interactions between the "glamorous" and the "struggling" in Los Angeles. 

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 2

This past weekend, I visited the Westfield Century City Mall for my first exploration of Los Angeles.  I have never been to the district of Century City before, and I was surprised to see how close this district was to UCLA.  My classmate Michelle and I ventured to the district by car.  As we drove towards the mall, a short 3-mile ride, I made sure to look out the window and take note of the changing neighborhoods and landscapes around me.  We first drove through the Westwood neighborhood behind sorority row, and it was on Manning Avenue that I admired the beautiful homes and oversized front yards.  Then, we turned onto Wilshire Boulevard and the scenery quickly changed from a residential plot to a business center.  The next streets we traveled on, including Beverly Glen Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, were extremely wide and featured green belts in the center.  In addition to the businesses and stores on these streets, they also featured sporadic apartment buildings.  This layout was representative of a traditional urban area like I read about in this week’s reading, where combinations of land use including residential, commercial, and public, are found. Unlike the post-suburban region Orange County, a private automobile would not be necessary in a district like Century City, where one could easily walk from their place of work to visit the mall or go out to eat (Kling, Spencer and Olin 7). 

In this picture I took, you can see the close proximity from the Century City skyscrapers to the Westfield mall.  This outdoor mall was so different from the mall I usually shop at, South Coast Plaza in Orange County, which is still elegant, but a lot less modern and original. 

            Once we arrived in Century City, we drove around the area for a bit to explore what the district was like.  The tall skyscrapers that covered the streets provided a stark contrast to the medium-sized homes and modest apartment buildings we noticed in certain parts of the district.  The landscape around the buildings included palm trees, grassy areas, and large parking lots.  Since our movie time was approaching, Michelle and I decided to drive back towards the Westfield Century City Mall.  We parked in the parking structure, and I noticed that a majority of the cars were luxury 4-door sedans.  There was a marked absence of larger SUVs, and there were a few substandard sedans mixed in.  From this observation, I assumed that visitors to this shopping center would include young adults, middle-aged couples, and not too many families or young children. 

            Our first stop in the mall was the AMC movie theater to buy our tickets for the 7:35 PM showing of “Trouble with the Curve”.  Considering it was 6:15 PM at the time, we figured there would be plenty of seats left in the theater.  To our surprise, there were only first and second row seats left.  The attendant quickly let us in on the secret that in order to see a movie at this theater, it is necessary to buy your tickets at least an hour or two in advance.  His personality struck me as a bit rude, as if my friend and I didn’t know what we were doing and didn’t belong in this first-class theater.  From that experience, I would guess that the visitors that frequent this theater have no problem showing up early for the showing and paying the $13.75 movie ticket price.  This is a big difference compared to where I am from, in the city of Long Beach, where you can pay around $10.00 for an AMC movie ticket and can arrive to the showing at the same time that the movie starts.  Referring back to my focal question, a difference in price and accessibility makes a lot of difference in my mind because of what I am used to in my hometown, which is still considered a part of Los Angeles County. 

            After purchasing our tickets, Michelle and I went to look for somewhere to eat.  We had heard great things about the eatery Pink Taco, so we walked over to that restaurant but quickly turned around when we saw that there was a 45-minute wait to be seated.  Instead, we entered what was called the “Dining Commons”, which I guess is a classier title for their version of a mall food court.  The Dining Commons featured restaurants like Bibigo, Which Wich, Baja Fresh, and California Crisp.  It definitely wasn’t your typical food court with a Chick-fil-A and McDonald’s.  The way the restaurants were laid out was very modern and sleek, and each restaurant featured steel surfaces, wood panels, and unique lighting.  There was both an indoor eating area and an outdoor space.  I ordered my meal at Bibigo, and paid $9.50 for a rice and chicken bowl, which I thought was a bit steep.  The attendant handed me a small beeper, which I was told would vibrate when my food was ready.   I thought this addition was pretty neat, seeing that I usually only see these beepers at nicer, sit-down restaurants.  This piece of technology is an example of how consumerism is connected with information capitalism, as discussed in the reading.  In “Post-Suburban California”, we read that fast-food restaurants use information technologies to define the experience of frequenting their establishments in a positive light (Kling, Spencer and Olin 18).  By using this beeper, Bibigo exemplified the shift to a post-rational, consumer-oriented culture. 

I patiently waited for my food, but then after about twenty minutes, was a bit frustrated by the long waiting time.  The person next to me also seemed a bit aggravated that their order wasn’t ready either.  I went to ask the attendants working and they seemed very confused that my order hadn’t been up yet and tried to help sort the situation out.  The person next to me handled the situation very differently, and started blatantly yelling at the waiter that his food wasn’t ready yet and told her that all of his friends were already eating and had ordered after him.  I was personally a bit annoyed by this person’s obnoxious complaints, especially when I noticed that I had ordered at least five minutes before him. 

It was at this moment that I once again took note of the personality of the people at the Century City mall.  Like the condescending movie theater attendant, my friend at Bibigo seemed a bit pretentious and superior.  After two interactions with this personality type, I was ready to return home even before the movie started.  Once again, I was taken aback by the difference in personality type from the types of people I normally interact with in Westwood and in my hometown.  Nevertheless, the conclusion of my night was rather pleasant as I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and ride home.    

In closing, I really enjoyed the experience I had when visiting Century City.  A destination just three miles away from UCLA, this district provided a bleak contrast compared to the more simplistic Westwood Village that I frequent much more often.  One of the more “glamorous” destinations in my travel plans, Century City proved to be a refreshing place.  As I travel other places in Los Angeles, however, that may fall under the “struggling” category, I am sure that I will find even bigger differences and entirely new experiences that I am looking forward to as well. 

Kling, Rob, Spencer Olin, and Mark Poster. Postsuburban California: The Transformation of Orange County since World War II. Berkeley: University of California Press, [1995], c1991 1995. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0k40036b/

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 1

Robert E. Park, an American urban sociologist, once said, "The City is a mosaic of little worlds which touch but do not interpenetrate."  Growing up in Los Angeles County, I am not under the impression that this statement applies to a city like Los Angeles.  The variety of places, people, and modes of transportation cause different parts of the city to interact with each other every single day.  

My focal question:

What difference does difference make in the landscapes of the contemporary, metropolitan Los Angeles region?

Throughout this quarter, I plan to explore Los Angeles and find out what difference difference makes in the city of Los Angeles.  How do the people from different areas interact, or do they interact at all?  What physical differences do all of the neighborhoods and districts hold?    As I visit new places, I will take notes and record observations on the physical landscapes of the city, the types of cars, the cleanliness of the neighborhoods, the types of houses, and most importantly, how the inhabitants of Los Angeles relate to one another and make this place their home.  I especially plan to study the personalities of the inhabitants and how these personalities change according to which part of the city they are in.  

Last quarter, I took a course called Geography 156: Metropolitan Los Angeles, and in this course we aimed to define the borders of Los Angeles County.  The borders that I like to use to describe Los Angeles can be further depicted in this map.  

I am not yet sure which places I will be visiting, but I want to be sure that I explore a variety of places, and not just Los Angeles tourist attractions.  Multimedia on Los Angeles tends to make the city seem like a place only for the rich and famous, or the "glamorous", and tends to hide the fact that a large portion of the people living in Los Angeles are living below the poverty line and are "struggling" to make ends meet and put dinner on the table for their families.  I would like to explore both aspects of this city as I explore, and to make sure to pay attention to how these differences are portrayed in the media and the news.  After doing some initial research, I found that it is really easy to find YouTube videos on the positive aspects of Los Angeles, and not as easy to find videos that touch on the problems the city is facing.

• "Discover Los Angeles"- a YouTube video on a website designed for tourists of Los Angeles
• "Fighting Poverty in LA: HomeWalkLA.org - an advertisement for a 5K race in Los Angeles with proceeds going towards homeless families in Los Angeles

With more fieldwork and research, I plan on answering the focal question above in enough detail so that I can get a better grasp on how this city with such diversity functions on a daily basis.  How can these two YouTube videos be describing the same city?  Hopefully, after experiencing Los Angeles county and the people inside the city, I can get a better sense of how to answer these questions.